QuickSprout; successful branding & recognition tips

If someone were to ask you how to improve credibility and increase constructive exposure online, what would you say? Would you say things like “setup a blog” or “comment and interact with other individuals in your interest group(s)”? Better yet, what would you do? What are you doing right now to improve your “branding”? What does Google know about you? Yahoo? What do search results say about you? Even more important, what do others know about you?

Roughly 10 months ago, I was invited to the 9rules network (visit to find out more). Although I have been fortunate enough to meet contacts both within and outside the network, there is one particular individual whom I have learned a considerable amount of wisdom from through well-written articles and personal chats. Neil Patel – recognized for his consulting work through ACS, blog articles at Pronet Advertising, and traffic analysis with Crazy Egg – knows a thing or two (sarcasm) about marketing and “branding”. If you’ve ever wondered how Neil manages to drive traffic, you can find his secrets, tips, and tricks on his latest blog venture – QuickSprout.

If you think about all the people that have high paying jobs, you’ll notice that some are talented and some are not. Regardless of how good they are, they are all perceived as “rock stars” and sometimes looked up to like celebrities. […] If you don’t think good things can happen to you, just look at me. About 6 months ago, no one in the online marketing industry knew about me yet in the last few months I have been covered in multiple trade publications such as the Wall Street Journal. I’ve also had job offers of six figures that would have let me finish college and work from home. A six figure income isn’t enough to retire on by any stretch but at 21 years old these aren’t bad offers at all.

5thirtyone.com tip for improving exposure

I may not have the experience or street cred that Neil has amassed, but I am aware of some decisions made in the past that have helped to spread 5thirtyone.com. Personally, I believe one of the first steps to improving your personal branding would be to find your niche. Unfortunately, the internet has become such a large medium that finding a unique niche may prove to be a difficult task. That’s ok. You can still find a niche by expanding on or improving upon what is already out there. There’s no hiding the fact that the first traffic 5thirtyone.com received resulted from two very simple MySpace overlays – minimal dark and minimal lime.

Give something to the community, and the community will most likely return the favor.

Discuss - 9 Comments

“Give something to the community, and the community will most likely return the favor.”

So so true. I stumbled upon 5thirtyone through a search for the myspace div a little less than a year ago and bookmarked the site immediately.

I gotta say Derek, 5thirtyone has helped bring me a long way. Opened a few doors. A year and a few myspace div overlays later, I’m almost finished building my first WP powered blog. From the ground up. I think I owe a little to you. So thanks

[quote comment=”49123″]Derek, you have a pretty solid “brand,” what have you done to develop and maintain it?[/quote]

Not so sure about how solid the 5ThirtyOne "brand" is but I do try and maintain a regular traffic flow. Not to give away the niche I try and address directly (maybe some of you can figure it out), I try to get 5thirtyone.com placed in search results that others may look for later down the road. I’m not too entwined on getting traffic here and now, I’m looking for traffic to continue returning through Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc for keyword queries that others might not yet have addressed thoroughly (yet).